Applications in for new BU Athletic Director

Nearly six months after former athletic director Ken Kavanagh left his post, the university has made initial steps toward hiring a permanent replacement.

Parker Executive Search, based in Atlanta, has been enlisted to aide in the preliminary steps of the hiring process.

Applications were due to the firm by Thursday. It isn’t yet known whether a committee will be formed to suggest a candidate to University President Joanne Glasser or if she will simply choose a candidate.

Any potential athletic director must have a bachelor’s degree and 5 years of senior-level athletic administration experience.

Bradley hasn’t created a time frame for hiring an athletic director, but is moving the process along.

“We’ll move as quickly as possible,” said Shelley Epstein, associate vice president for communication. “[Bradley] wants to find the right candidate for the position. It’s better to do it right than to do it in haste.

Former executive athletic director Virnette House-Browning took over the athletic director position in May as an interim. She has been performing both duties for both jobs since that time.

House-Browning has said publicly she plans to apply for the job.

“I have had the opportunity to do this job for a few months now,” she told the Journal Star. “And it only reinforces the fact that I absolutely do plan to compete in this process.”

House-Browning arrived at Bradley 14 years ago, as the first Senior Woman Administrator under Kavanagh.

Kavanagh accepted a position at Florida Golf Coast University last spring, and left the Hilltop on May 8, nearly a month before he originally planned to leave.

He declined to comment at that time about his early departure, but the university told the Journal Star it was decided his duties had to be transferred to an interim before his planned departure date.

The athletic director is one of the top administrators at the university and is a member of the president’s cabinet along with Epstein and each of the university vice presidents.